Feminism and 1 Timothy 2

While attempting to reconcile my strong feminist instincts with my dear adherence to the Bible, I decided to focus on this scripture. Actually, what happened was that I got irritated one morning during General Conference that women always spoke too quietly and never taught doctrine. So my dad told me to write a letter to the RS presidency (who didn't actually speak at the conference) expressing my opinion. So I did, and that included scripture study. And Shakespeare. And Keats.

Meanwhile, I've decided that God gave Adam and his sons the right to administer the priesthood in this life. That means that they get to pass it on, and officially set people into their temporary or permanent roles. Women can get set into temporary or permanent roles wherever God needs them, but the men already administer ordinances. The Priesthood is a mechanism whereby God's will and power is manifest. It isn't the will and power itself; THAT everybody has - like personal revelation, or prayer (except that it's interceded, like repentance).

So while women can basically do anything a man can do, what they don't HAVE to do is pass it on. It's not a role God has assigned to us. Yay! We get to make babies!
Like the leaves on a summer tree, we are the beautiful, barren end of a great vascular system that is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Or the fruit. It's complicated and symmetrical. We give babies, they give blessings. Hmm. That's an interesting meditation.

Comments

  1. EveSeptember 15, 2013 at 11:18 PM

    Interesting that the idea that we give babies is the barren scenario in this... scenario. I like it. I am enjoying the discovery of my other womanly gifts and roles. While I honor the wife and mother aspect--I think it is a privilege I don't want to waste to discover my other duties and powers. So I'm having fun with that right now.

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